About 50 Dalit families in Moradabad have immersed statues of Hindu deities in the river there and started greeting one another with the salutation 'Salaamwalekum' instead of the usual 'Ram Ram', following an increase in incidents of attacks on Dalits in Uttar Pradesh ever since the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government came to power.

They have threatened to embrace Islam if attacks on Dalits do not stop in Uttar Pradesh immediately. About 50 Dalit families took out a procession on Saturday evening carrying statues of Hindu deities, including Lord Rama and Ganesha, and immersed them in the Ramganga river in Moradabad.